Everything in Between

Chapter 11: One Moment, Please

On their way to the final encounter with Elise, Nick finally closes one door that's been open for a very long time.

There are moments in life that often stay with us, and some of them, never even leave your thoughts; buried deep in your mind is a sense of wanderlust to experience something like that again.

Wow, what happened to Nick, am I right?

Well, as much as I am handsome, charismatic and apparently funny, I too have soft spots and it just so happens that I've always liked for an ability to control time. Or to stop it, for a fraction of a second and just look: in awe or in disgust, but to see everything.

For once, dear reader, I think it did.

If you can't probably tell, this is going to be one hell of a chapter. And for once, maybe I don't have to comment sarcastically. Because the beauty in this is that there is anything but sarcasm.

Well, of course I can't remove sarcasm. I mean that's my gig, you know? That's how I get the big bucks. If I actually get paid big bucks.

Yeah, the author's telling me to get on with it before I get carried away. And I guess he's right (for once).

Let's begin with the morning.

Anxiety, fear, you name it, I probably felt it. Truth be told, I was excited. I've never done something like this before, and I don't think I had the manual on how to act in such situations.

Nevertheless, there was a lot of waiting. Mostly for Priestly because he was my ride. Some times I feel like most of my adventures were with that guy, but I guess that's what life gets you.

The plan was to meet at a board game shop, which substituted as a restaurant at the same time. Now, the restaurant part would've been nice, except that Elise was there at 12, and well...

...we were there by 3.

Wait! Before the sighs and reproaches, let me explain. There was a misunderstanding, lack of communication, and...

Okay fine. Reproach me. Totally our fault. My bad. Kinda made the wrong impression on her mom, whose presence made herself known when we walked in.

Confident, high strung as always, Nick walked himself in, and upon seeing the look on Elise's face, I walked right out.

As you can see, smoothness is not my strong suit.

Sadly, neither are parents.

However, once bravery and balls were achieved, two men walked into that shop and sat down. Us. Three teenagers and a mom sharing a table of board games.

How exciting.

Might I be the first to admit that: one, the board games weren't that bad; two, chips were actually pretty good, and three, the best part hasn't happened yet.

You see, here was the plan. Regroup in that shop, and then go back to her place. If that doesn't sound promising, then I don't know what is. Except we had Priestly with us.

Dammit.

Anyway, after some chips and a snack, we rode in her car back to her place, because that's where we'll be spending most of our time. On her pool deck, to be exact. The sun was setting at that point, and it was already getting dark; so we sat down, the three of us. I guess you could say Nick was nervous, I mean why wouldn't I be? I liked this girl for four years, that's longer than some relationships, by the way, and so much has happened in those years. I ran away, I fought over her with my friends, I got ignored for months, became a personal butler (which is a long story short; her personal homework machine), and all this time, not once did I know: did she like me back or not? I've come to the point that that's been the recurring theme in my life, but I've moved on from that. To Angie, I mean. The past has been let go...